Decoy Effect, a cognitive bias where adding an inferior, "decoy" option to a choice set subtly manipulates you into choosing the marketer's preferred, usually more expensive, option. It skews your perception of value without you realizing it. © marketingminds

Except these assholes make it $7.25 $7.50 $7.75 So they force you to buy the big one.

Am I the only one who makes a (size / amount given) to price ratio Even if not physical, but a guesstimation Like I feel like this trap is easy to avoid Just look at the price and the oz (fl or net wt)

Adjusted for inflation.

That raw popcorn cost like $0.50/ton.

Wait until people realized how they sold us the electronic voting systems.

And that's why in India they have to print the "price per unit of measure" on the product. For example, regardless of the size of the popcorn, they have to print the price per 100g of the popcorn.

These days the choice is often made from a health perspective as well, I would almost always choose the smaller due to the calories I do not want.

Decoy effect in action right here. "89% of parents support a legal requirement for social media services to have a minimum age of access, with 96% of those agreeing that it should be at least 16 years old." This is the questionnaire used by the UK government:

Ha, joke's on them! I'm broke AF so I'm still getting the small one.

heres the thing tho im a medium buyer cuz the large could be the same price as the medium but ill NEVER finish that much popcorn so i get a medium.

I get the idea......but in this scenario unless the Large isn't actually at least 2.33X more popcorn than the Small...I'm going Large. I know all too well it's not making it past the halfway point of the movie; a Small won't even make it past previews.

This is true and happens to me too, BUT only assuming that I CAN eat the larger one or I'm going with someone else; otherwise I'll prefer smaller even if it's technically mkre expensive. I mean, it's always like this: family-sized products in supermarkets are supposed to be cheaper (by unit) but if you live by yourself you can only take advantage of stuff that lasts some time.

Yup. With the added bonus of plausible deniability that they just tried to set the market at $100.

I would still just buy the small

This is also how you manage your manager. You give him/her 3 options w/only one being being viable.

A big part of why this works in the first place is because “value” is such a high priority for us. It’s a hard habit to break but plenty of places don’t make that the most important factor. We’d probably be better off if we didn’t either.

Just bring your own pop to the cinema, hidden, or other food. Dont let yourself get robbed by this overpriced food

I hate sales staff for this very reason. You can clearly see the price difference and size inequality does not match the price increases in most things. It's all psychological programming. Ask yourself why cereal boxes are so small now?

I Just sneak in snacks and lay for nothing cuz it's a scam anyway. Big, medium or small

It’s a similar technique used by airlines, except they want you to take the middle option eg: Economy class £500; Business class £1000; First class £5000.

It's never a "deal" when you spend more money you hadn't intended to spend for something you didn't want in the first place. This is how "clearance" sales work.

Sometimes they just change the names from Small, Medium, Large to Kids, Small, Medium, for people who order medium without looking at the menu too closely and end up with the more expensive one that's too big.

It would have worked on me

If the product quality is the same, I usually buy the discounted product wherever there is a big discount. Even so, it depends on how much food I can eat.

Well the medium is far less than the large so large is the only one you get the most value on so this doesn't work what's your thoughts @grok

Is this why you have premium and premium + plans @grok

Best way to win. Sneak in drinks/snacks to beat this

That means if you take the 6,50 you’re dumb.

Happens also when buying a TV: bigger size is slightly more expensive

Many local coffee shops started something similar with their drip coffee. Often pricing it around $1 less than a latte. I've switched back to Starbucks.